Frequently asked questions

Can't we just email/phone/Skype each other?

To make sure that all our mentees and mentors stay safe and secure, we ask you to only communicate through the ementoring website. To make things easier, you should be sent an email alert whenever you receive a new message.

I don’t have a code word to sign-up

Brightside is an education charity and currently most of our projects are run through our partner ementoring coordinators across the UK, who select the school/college students and mentors from the areas they work with.

Not all our schemes allow online sign-up. If you can't see the sign-up box, check that you're on the right ementoring website. If you have any more problems, contact your scheme coordinator or support@thebrightsidetrust.org for more information.

We are, however, compiling a bank of mentees and mentors who are interested in applying to be involved in our ementoring programmes. As such, there may be an opportunity for you to get involved in the future, although we cannot guarantee that we will be able to match you with a mentoring partner immediately. To get involved, please register your details here:

If the code word by your coordinator is not working, please contact us by emailing support@thebrightsidetrust.org letting us know your full name, the name of your coordinator and the name of the ementoring website you use.

Why aren't I receiving email alerts?

When you get a new message from your mentoring partner, you should receive an automatic email to let you know.

There are a few reasons why you might not be getting email alerts:

Wrong address: The most likely explanation as to why you are not receiving email alerts is that we have the wrong email address for you. Please check your profile carefully and make sure your email address is entered correctly

Your messages on the site will be monitored by the ementoring coordinator and Brightside. This is for your own protection to ensure that nothing inappropriate is sent. Your messages will not be seen by your parents, teachers, lecturers, employers or anyone else using the ementoring website.

What you tell your mentoring partner is confidential, unless it is felt that a mentee might be at risk of being harmed or harming others. If this happens, a mentor will get advice to ensure that appropriate steps are taken to protect their matched mentee(s).

What does it mean when my message is "pending moderation"?

Messages are checked automatically for offensive language, contact details, any attachments and other content that might affect the safety of mentors and mentees. Messages containing such content are "pending moderation" until your ementoring coordinator has checked them.

My message has been held for too long. What should I do?

Your coordinator will moderate messages as quickly as possible, but if a message has gone unmoderated for a week or longer it will be looked at by Brightside.

If your message is more than a week old and still hasn't been moderated, there may be a fault in the system. Please get in touch on support@thebrightsidetrust.org to let us know about it.

Can I send my mentoring partner my CV or job application?

Yes you can, simply add this as an attachment when you compose a message. Please be advised that any attachment will be moderated by your ementoring coordinator.

How can I contact my coordinator?

You can get in touch with your coordinator through the project website. Simply start a new message and select your coordinator (blue background) in the "to" section.

Is ementoring just talking?

No!

If you are a mentee, there's loads of other stuff on the ementoring website to help answer some of your questions. Check out the latest news, resources and activities, or ask your mentoring partner about them.

If you are a mentor, why not complete the online mentor training programme? This is great for your personal development and on completion you get a certificate to add to your CV.

Why can't I try all the activities?

Some of the activities must be allocated by your mentor. Ask them if there's an activity you want to try.

Can I write an article for the site?

Brightside always welcomes articles written by our users but we do ask you to follow a specific process to help us manage this content.

Please contact your ementoring coordinator and make sure they are happy to help manage the process

Agree with your ementoring coordinator what you are going to write about and when this will be completed

Your ementoring coordinator will then provide you with Brightside style guidelines. This is advice about how to write articles that are user-friendly and match our current resources

Once you have completed your article please provide this to your ementoring coordinator, who will upload it to the resources section for people to see!

Is my mentor trained?

All mentors are fully trained to help support you on the ementoring site and are also police-checked by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) before being matched with a mentee.

How are we matched?

Your ementoring coordinator aims to match mentoring pairs who have relevant backgrounds, and similar interests. The interests you selected on your sign-up form will be used to help with this.

My mentor/mentee doesn't talk to me!

Your mentoring partner should receive alerts by email to any messages you have sent. However, sometimes they read them and then forget to respond as they are busy, or they may be on holiday where internet access is limited, so why not send them another message in the meantime – this may do the trick!

However, if it has been over two weeks and you have heard nothing from your partner, then we suggest that you contact your ementoring coordinator who will be able to get in touch to make sure nothing is wrong.

If you’re not sure who your coordinator is contact us by emailingsupport@thebrightsidetrust.org letting us know your full name and the name of the ementoring website you use.

What if I don’t know what to say to my mentoring partner?

It can sometimes be tricky to know what to say. If you are having trouble getting started, try running through the tips in your mentoring handbook which can be found in the Getting Started section. You can also talk to your ementoring coordinator who will be able to help you with this.

If you have been talking to your mentoring partner online for a little while but feel like you have run out of things to say, why not have a look through ‘My Resources’ for articles and news that interests you and then discuss it with your mentoring partner? You may discover new shared interests or spark a debate. Also, have a go at some of the activities on the site – they can be fun and rewarding.

What if I don’t like my mentoring partner?

It is important that you and your mentoring partner get on for the ementoring relationship to work. Of course, there may be occasions when it just doesn’t work out. If this happens, don’t worry. Just contact your ementoring coordinator and they will assign you a new mentoring partner if one is available, or put you on a waiting list.

I don’t want to continue with the ementoring. How do I stop?

It’s fine to end the mentoring relationship, but we ask that whether you are a mentor or a mentee that you try to finish on a constructive note.

Firstly please contact your coordinator to discuss your concerns. They will be friendly and supportive, so don’t just disappear.

Secondly, leave a farewell message to your mentoring partner, and highlight what you feel has been achieved to finish on a constructive note.